


The Fourth Element

by Tenebrais



Category: Sleepless Domain (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29446923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tenebrais/pseuds/Tenebrais
Summary: In all her life, Tessa couldn't remember a time where she hadn't been chosen for something. She was top of her class, she was great at sports, she'd never met anyone she couldn't make her friend. If you needed a girl for anything, she was a natural choice.So why were all of her friends getting the Dream before her?
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	The Fourth Element

“Oh my gosh, you look so cool!”  
“Yeah!”  
“What powers did you get?”  
“I bet you can come up with some really cool things to do with them!”  
“Hey, can you see okay without your glasses like that?” Tessa asked.  
Sylvia waved her hand in front of her face. “Very clearly!” she said. “I think the transformation just... deals with that, somehow? I wonder how it works.”  
“Now the three of us can go out together!” Undine said.  
“I hope I can pass muster...” Sylvia said.  
“You'll be great!” said Gwen, giving her a thumbs up.  
“Oh man, you're going to be so cool together!” Sally said. “I can't wait til I get powers too! I wonder what I'll get?”  
“Well, if we're water, earth and air, maybe you'll be fire?” Sylvia guessed.  
“Oh, but what about Tessa?” Undine asked. “There's five of us.”

Tessa smiled to her friends, although her heart wasn't quite in it. Ever since she turned twelve she'd checked her hair in the mirror every morning, hoping to see a flash of colour. Then, that day a week ago when Undine had turned up blue... she couldn't admit it to anyone, but it hurt a little. And then Gwen a few days ago, now Sylvia too. Gwen's costume had looked pretty similar to Undine's, and now with Sylvia's too, it was clear they were a thematic team. Tessa's time would come, now she was sure of it, and she'd already been starting to steel herself for getting the dream for real. And it was totally fair for them to get their powers first! Undine was so kind and pure-hearted. Gwen had her quiet implacability. And Sylvia was so responsible and smart. All three of them would make great magical girls! It was totally justified. She... she knew that.

“I wonder what our theme is, then?” Sylvia asked. "All of our sigils are triangles like this, right? I should do some research...”  
“Ah, that's boring!” Sally said. “Show us your powers!”  
With a slight laugh, Sylvia raised her arms, and the wind started whipping up around them. Sally looked on in awe. She had a sparkle in her eyes for sure. She whooped loudly while Tessa applauded.  
“It still doesn't quite feel real,” Sylvia admitted. “I mean... me, of all people? Do I really deserve this?”  
“Of course you do!” Tessa insisted. “You're going to be amazing. I just know it.”  
Sylvia gave her a warm smile.

* * *

That night, Tessa looked out through her window to the barrier below. Sky blue, with patterns on the walls that looked like crude cave paintings. For years she'd done this when she couldn't sleep, looking down on the streets below, imagining being there, fighting the monsters herself with cool laser blasts. Somewhere out there were her friends, figuring out their powers and tactics. Undine was always pretty hesitant, but Gwen could be very forthright when she wanted to be, and with Sylvia's mind behind them she was sure they'd be a powerful force.  
She wanted desperately to be out there with them. She didn't think she'd wanted anything this badly before. Sure, she'd always daydreamed of being a magical girl – who hadn't? – but now it was right at her fingertips!  
Right at her fingertips, but not in her grasp.

Tessa closed her blinds, and sank into her bed. It couldn't be long now. Just a few days more. Then she got to be special again.

* * *

“Oh wow, Sylvie, are you okay?” Tessa asked.  
Sylvia yawned and rubbed her eyes. “I'm really tired,” she said. “I think I might have overused my powers last night.”  
“Did everything go okay out there?”  
“I think so. I'm still getting used to it... Gwen nearly got hit by a monster so I blew it away as hard as I could. Then I nearly fainted... we had to hunker down in a safety centre until the barrier went down.”  
“I'm glad you're being careful,” Tessa said. “I really don't want to see any of you get hurt.”  
“If this is us when we're new, we'll be unstoppable once we figure things out,” Sylvia laughed. “Especially once you and...”  
“Me and?”  
“Sorry, I just spaced out a bit there,” Sylvia said with another yawn.  
“You really didn't get enough sleep, huh? Aren't you going to move to Future's Promise? Don't they get to start school later?”  
“I don't want to leave my best friend behind,” Sylvia said indignantly.  
“Well _I_ don't want _my_ best friend burning herself out just so we can sit in classes together!”  
“That's sweet of you,” she smiled. “But we talked about it, we're going to apply for the transfer when we can all go together.”  
“Just don't wait too long!” Tessa smiled back.

* * *

At Sylvia's insistence, the gang met in the library during break that day. It wasn't rare to find her there – she'd always worked very hard to keep up with Tessa's grades – but today she wanted to get everyone researching to figure out their team's theme. She thought the symbols in particular would be a clue; they all had some kind of triangle but it wasn't particularly clear what that meant.

Sylvia had picked out a variety of books of symbolism. She had references for old religions, mythology, chemistry, even engineering. She pored hungrily over book after book, while Undine tried hard to keep up. Gwen stared hard at an open page as though she could intimidate it into telling her answers, and Sally wasn't even pretending to try. Neither of them got on with books. Tessa, for her part, flicked through pages, skimming for any mention of triangles.

“Ah! I've got something!” Undine said.  
Everyone crowded around her book on old world folklore.  
“Alchemy?” Sylvia read out. “Old world alchemists believed the world was composed of four elements: air, water, earth and fire...”  
“And there's the symbols!” Undine said, pointing at the illustration besides it.  
“So fire is a triangle pointing up?” Sally said.  
“Looks like it,” Gwen said.

“Four?” Tessa said.

No one spoke for a moment. Tessa and Sally looked at each other. That couldn't be right, could it?  
“What else does it say?” Sylvia said. “Is there anything on the next page?” No, that's a astrology...”  
“There must be five, right?” Undine said, with a hint of panic in her voice. “There's five of us!”  
“Maybe we're missing something?” Sylvia said, still desperately searching the text for anything else. 

Reading the text over and over was not going to wring a fifth element from it, no matter how hard they tried. Even Sally was actually paying attention to a book for once. But when the bell rang for third period they had to admit defeat.

* * *

Tessa sat and stared at her reflection in the mirror the next morning. Still the same old Tessa. She tried to imagine her hair a bright, flaming red. She wasn't sure it really suited her; she'd always thought purples were more her colour. Could fire be purple? Or maybe pink? She hoped so.  
Then she imagined her hair staying brown. And Sally and all the others got to be magical girls without her. The thought alone left her feeling hollow. She'd never had to deal with being left out before.  
But Sally deserved to be a magical girl too! She was the one who had been dreaming about it since they were six. She might not be the most diligent girl in the world but she was enthusiastic and brave. Tessa wouldn't want to be on a team without her.  
But she might have to, right? She tried to imagine the look on Sally's face if the four of them changed school to start life as a magical girl team for real. It hurt nearly as much.

Still... if she had to make the choice, that was the one she would take. She felt bad about it, but she really wanted to be a magical girl with her friends. To be part of Team Alchemical. To be the bold hero with her teammates at her side. That was how it had always been – it was hard to imagine their group without her. She knew, deep down, she was the one keeping everyone together. No one knew how magical girls were chosen, but if it was aware enough to keep her friends together, it couldn't leave her out.

But still, there was that doubt at the back of her mind...

* * *

Sally was the first face she saw at school. Tessa tried to hide her relief at seeing her hair as black as it had been the day before. She opened her mouth to say something, then thought better of it.  
Sally looked as though she was about to speak herself, and then didn't.  
“...hi,” Tessa said, at least.  
“Yeah,” Sally said.

They didn't talk any more. What do you say to someone you're pretty sure won't still be your friend a week from now? Maybe it's easier to just... let it happen.  
_What the hell am I thinking?_ She thought to herself. _This is Sally! We've been friends for longer than I can remember! We've been through everything together!_  
But would they get through this?  
_That doesn't mean I can just abandon her! I need to make an effort for her!_  
But Sally wasn't making an effort either.  
_Then that makes it my job!_

“Hey, uh...”  
“It's gonna be you,” Sally said.  
“What?” Tessa asked. “Why do you say that?”  
“It's gotta be, right? You're practically born for it! You're super smart, and you're good with people, and you're basically our leader already. Everyone wants it to be you.”  
“But that doesn't mean-”  
“It does though!” Sally looked up at her, eyes glistening with tears. “I'm really gonna miss you guys.”  
Tessa gave her a sympathetic smile. “We're gonna miss you too,” she said.  
Sally finally broke down and hugged her, sobbing. “I'm never gonna forget you!”  
Tessa hugged her back. “We're not going to forget you either! Sally, you're still going to be our best friend. We're still going to make time for you, okay? It doesn't matter what school we're going to, we're _never_ going to stop being friends.”  
Sally sniffed. “Promise?”  
Tessa nodded with confidence. “Promise.”

For the rest of the day, Tessa found her stride again. Hearing Sally say it herself... it kind of felt like she had won. Not that they were ever competing, of course! But if everyone agreed that she should be the last magical girl – that she should be Alchemical Fire – then surely it had to be true. And she could deal with Sally feeling sad about it. It wasn't the first time Sally had felt like she was falling behind the others. Tessa knew how to make her feel important. She could _handle_ this.

* * *

Sleep came easily that night. Her mind was free of doubt, now – it was only a matter of time. As she lay in bed, she idly considered how she would keep Sally involved in the friend group once the rest of them all had duties. It wouldn't be easy, but from what she knew of a magical girl's schedule, they should be able to fit in time together after school...

Tessa woke up to find her hair still brown, and sighed a little. Another day to wait, at least. The team had mentioned they were going to out on patrol again last night, so she was looking forward to hearing about it. Sooner or later she'd have to start making plans for her own place with team, but until she actually got her powers she couldn't really say for sure how to fight together. A lot of things were still up in the air.

She also wondered about changing schools. Sylvia definitely needed to move schools as soon as the whole team was together – she could hardly blame her, Sylvia had enough on her plate with her little brother and sister around. It'd be hard on Sally to leave straight away, but would it be any easier if they waited?

Her mind was lost in these thoughts when she arrived at school. It was getting easier to find her friends these days – a growing team of magical girls naturally drew attention, and over the last couple of weeks the furtive glances and excited whispers had turned into a gaggle of hopeful fans. The girls had so far tried to brush them off – neither Undine, Gwen nor Sylvia liked being the centre of attention. Today, the crowd seemed particularly thick – Tessa had to, as politely as she could, push her way through a few people to reach her friends. In the middle of the throng, the team were chattering excitedly, and with them was

Sally, with bright

red

hair

* * *

Tessa returned to reality to find Sally squealing and holding her in a tight hug.  
“Tessa! Tessa! I got the dream _I got the dream!_ ” she shrieked, bouncing up and down. “It was _so cool!_ I was in this sort of lava field, and there were shooting stars falling down all around me, and a big pillar of fire burst out from the ground and then, well, I can't remember what happened after that, but then I woke up and _I was a magical girl and I have fire powers!_ Look!”  
Sally pulled down the neck of her T-shirt to show off a point of red on her chest – the tip of a triangle. Her eyes – now a fiery golden colour – were gleaming with delight, and Tessa could swear she was sparkling.

Tessa couldn't share in the excitement. Her guts had turned to ice. It wasn't her. Sally got the dream. She had been chosen. Undine had been chosen. Gwen and Sylvia had been chosen.  
In all her life, Tessa couldn't remember a time where she hadn't been chosen for something. She was top of her class, she was great at sports, she'd never met anyone she couldn't make her friend. If you needed a girl for anything, she was a natural choice.  
But whatever it was that picked out who gets the Dream didn't choose her. Hell, it chose everyone _but_ her. It wasn't fair. Why did it reject her? What did she do wrong?

Tessa fought back tears and gave Sally the warmest smile she could muster. “That's great, Sally,” she said. “You'll make an awesome Alchemical Fire.”  
Sally grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the yes. “Tessa, you're my best friend. And that's never going to change. Never ever. Powers or not, you're part of the team, okay?”  
Behind her, the other three called out their agreement. Tessa just smiled.  
“Thanks, everyone,” she said.

“Show us your transformation!” someone from the crowd piped up. Sally looked over in his direction with a smile.  
“Okay!” she said. “Clear some space!”

Tessa knew she should stay and watch Sally transform. It was such a big moment for her. She knew she should be happy for her. But she couldn't. She took the chance to back out of the crowd, turn the corner into the girl's toilets, and cried.


End file.
